Advances in Dental Research, Vol 8, 175-180, Copyright © 1994 by International & American Associations for Dental Research
Absorption and retention of dietary and supplemental fluoride by infants
J. Ekstrand, E. E. Ziegler, S. E. Nelson and S. J. Fomon
Department of Dental Toxicology, School of Dentistry, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
There is a widespread belief that an adequate intake of fluoride during the
pre-eruptive stage of enamel formation (i.e., from the diet in frequent
small doses throughout the day) will be protective against caries in later
life. To obtain data on bio-availability and retention of fluoride in one
age group (infants), we studied 3 treatment regimens: In Regimen A, small
amounts of fluoride were obtained from the diet in frequent doses
throughout the day; in Regimen B, a fluoride supplement (0.25 mg) was given
once each day with a feeding; Regimen C was similar to regimen B except
that the fluoride supplement was given 1 h before a feeding. For the 3
regimens, the respective mean absorptions of fluoride were 90.1, 88.9, and
96.0% of intake, and the respective retentions were 12.5, 47.1, and 52.3%
of intake. Neither the difference in absorption nor the difference in
retention between regimens B and C was statistically significant. By
subtracting the background urinary excretion of fluoride (i.e., excretion
of fluoride while diet was the sole source of fluoride) from the excretion
after administration of the fluoride supplement, we calculated that 68.1%
of the supplement was retained in Regimen B and 73.0% of the supplement in
Regimen C. The difference was not significant.
